Saturday, December 26, 2009

All the houses and shops of Colonial Williamsburg are dressed for the season. While the decorations aren't entirely traditional, they are inspired by 18th c. tastes. Many of the decorations reflect the shop's trade or the interests of the house's owner, with scrolled sheet music, milliner's hats, imported porcelain tea-dishes, or even a horse collar and stirrups incorporated into the greenery. Everything used has to have been available in colonial Virginia; no plastic snowmen, polyester ribbons, or LED Santa-heads allowed! For more about the decorations, see this article on the Colonial Williamsburg web site.

6
comments:

ingrid
said...

I once visited Florence at Christmas time, and all the shops had decorations of greenery and lemons above their windows. It looked lovely. Going into the museums, I noticed that they were full of Della Robbia garlands of greenery and lemons.This was 25 years ago, so things might be very different now.

Thank you for your good wishes, and may I wish TNHG and all their readers a wonderful holiday season and much happiness in 2010.

Keep in mind that everything is exact to each period. Some houses have no decorations because in the 17th century especially, there were many Congregationalists and they didn't believe in outward shows of holiday spirit.

Also, I took quite a few pictures of Webster's house because it was the most well lit. Others that would have been weren't open. Some that are very dark are exactly the way I saw them, with only one or two candles lit.

Anyway, this is just a small sampling, but I really wanted you both to get a chance to see a bit of Greenfield Village. And if you ever travel this way, I'd love to take you!

Ingrid -- That's interesting about Florence -- many of the decorations here in CW also involve fruit, and there's a definite della Robbia feel to it. Unfortunately the climate's a bit too warm to keep fresh fruit outdoors for a month, so it has to be "refreshed" on a weekly basis. But the birds do enjoy all those apples!

Theo -- I tried to follow your link, but it didn't work. :( Sounds like Greenfield must have been very beautiful last night!

Theo, finally made it work! Looks like you & your daughters must have had a splendid time -- how neat that they show Christmas in different eras to match the houses. Coincidentally, I just posted a picture of CW's fife and drum corps, with links to music that might well have matched your last two pictures of the pipers as well. :)

Thank you so much for sharing -- and persevering with Blogger (which is taxing me mightily with the picture "arrangement" this week.)

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A Polite Explanation

There’s a big difference in how we use history. But we’re equally nuts about it. To us, the everyday details of life in the past are things to talk about, ponder, make fun of -- much in the way normal people talk about their favorite reality show.

We talk about who’s wearing what and who’s sleeping with whom. We try to sort out rumor or myth from fact. We thought there must be at least three other people out there who think history’s fascinating and fun, too. This blog is for them.